{"id":159,"date":"2010-09-17T15:35:03","date_gmt":"2010-09-17T19:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.fbclafayette.org\/?p=159"},"modified":"2011-12-12T09:29:06","modified_gmt":"2011-12-12T14:29:06","slug":"the-sophistication-of-suppressing-the-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/the-sophistication-of-suppressing-the-truth\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sophistication of Suppressing the Truth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Garden\"In the first post<\/a> in this series, I noted that atheists have responded the same way to the gospel for millennia. Another observation I made when equipping our college students about the new atheists is how mankind goes through great lengths to suppress God\u2019s truth. Romans 1:18-19 states \u201cFor the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

All mankind inherently knows about God.\u00a0 This knowledge is not dependent upon mankind\u2019s efforts to discover knowledge.\u00a0 Revelation is dependent upon God Himself.\u00a0 God \u201cmade it evident\u201d to us\u201d\u00a0 God did this in part through what has been made\u2014creation (Rom 1:20).<\/p>\n

Suppressing the Truth<\/h2>\n

In the New Atheist movement, the suppression of the truth is on glorious display.\u00a0 Dr. Dawkins book, The God Delusion<\/em><\/a>, is dedicated to the memory of Douglas Adam (of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy<\/em><\/a> fame) and uses one his quotes:<\/p>\n

\u201cIsn\u2019t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?\u201d\u2014Douglas Adams<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How would you begin to respond to this statement?\u00a0 What is the intended message about creation and God when compared to a beautiful garden and fairies?\u00a0 Did you notice the sleight of hand that would make a magician proud?\u00a0 Maybe you can see it clearly if I were to rephrase the quote:<\/p>\n

\u201cIsn\u2019t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there is a gardener behind it?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The sleight of hand is actually clear suppression of truth. <\/strong> Christian Dr. Lennox in his debate<\/a> with Dr. Dawkins dismantles this quote in his closing arguments.\u00a0 Now read carefully Dr. Dawkins\u2019 response to Dr. Lennox.<\/p>\n

When we go into a garden and we see how beautiful it is\u2026and we see colored flowers and we see the butterflies and the bees\u2026of course it\u2019s natural<\/em> <\/em>to think there must be a gardener. Any fool is likely to think there must be a gardener<\/em>.<\/em> The huge achievement of Darwin was to show that that didn\u2019t have to be true. Of course it\u2019s difficult. Of course it would have to wait until the mid-19th century before anybody thought of it. It seems so obvious<\/em> that if you got a garden, there must be a gardener who created it and all that goes with that. What Darwin did was to show these staggering counterintuitive<\/em> fact that this not only can be explained by an undirected process \u2026 . He showed not only a garden but everything in the living world and in principle not just on this earth but on any other planet wherever you see the organized complexity that we understand that we call life that it has an explanation which can derive it from simple beginnings by comprehensible rational<\/em> means. That is possibly the greatest achievement that any human mind has ever accomplished.\u00a0 Not only did he show that it could be done but I believe that we can argue that the alternative is so unparsimonious and so counterintuitive<\/em> to the laws of common sense<\/em> that as reluctant as we might be because it might be unpleasant to admit it\u2014although we can\u2019t disprove that there is a God, it is very very unlikely indeed<\/em>.\u201d \u2013Dr. Richard Dawkins<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So what have you just read?\u00a0 You have read Romans 1:18 in action–the sophisticated lengths that mankind will go through to suppress the truth.<\/strong> Dr. Dawkins agrees that the most \u201cobvious\u201d, \u201cnatural\u201d explanation is that there is a gardener behind the garden. He will agree that even \u201cfools\u201d would believe this. But then Dr. Dawkins will reject the obvious and opt for the seemingly impossible \u2013that which is \u201cstaggering counterintuitive.\u201d Then after exercising his faith in Darwin\u2019s interpretations of the evidences he will assert that his new explanation is \u201ccomprehensible\u201d and \u201crational\u201d, and the original design argument which he had previously asserted as \u201cobvious\u201d is now \u201ccounterintuitive\u201d and goes against “common sense.”<\/p>\n

As John Piper <\/strong>points out<\/strong><\/a>, it takes a real \u201cbeliever\u201d to believe like Dr. Dawkins.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Singular Hope<\/h2>\n

Now, what should we take from all of this?\u00a0 Mankind is deluded and deceived because of our rebellion against God.\u00a0 We all actively suppress the truth in unrighteousness because we desire to make our own way in this word and not live under the good, Creator God.\u00a0 We don\u2019t want to be accountable to God.\u00a0 We don\u2019t want to see reality for what it really is.\u00a0 Therefore, God has turned mankind over to his desires and plunged him into blindness.\u00a0 No amount of fancy argumentation or even apologetics can rescue mankind from his delusions. Only an act of God to impart the gift of sight to the blind will rescue mankind from his predicament.\u00a0 This is the gift of faith that enables one to see.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else\u201d \u00a0-CS Lewis<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the first post in this series, I noted that atheists have responded the same way to the gospel for millennia. Another observation I made when equipping our college students about the new atheists is how mankind goes through great lengths to suppress God\u2019s truth. Romans 1:18-19 states \u201cFor the wrath of God is revealed… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[94],"tags":[141,142,146,109,145,147],"yoast_head":"\nThe Sophistication of Suppressing the Truth - Faith Church Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/the-sophistication-of-suppressing-the-truth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Sophistication of Suppressing the Truth - Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the first post in this series, I noted that atheists have responded the same way to the gospel for millennia. 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